I want to change people's attitude to music: Vasundhara Das

By R.G. Vijayasarathy

Bangalore, July 8 (IANS) Singer and actress Vasundhara Das wants to enlighten fans of film songs about other forms of music too. And she loves being part of the World Music band that tries to experiment with diverse rhythms and tunes.

"The people of this country are great music lovers. But unfortunately majority of them are only listening to film music and getting lost in enjoying filmy songs. I want to change this attitude and try to change the enormous focus given to film music," Vasundhara told IANS.

Asked about her association with the World Music band, she said: "I wanted to be a part of a larger group that is trying to experiment in music to set new trends. The relevance of realistic music has to be well understood by music fans in the country," she said.

Vasundhara, who started her career as an actress in Kamal Haasan's "Hey Ram", says she drew inspiration from singer John Lennon of the Beatles group because despite his popularity he continued to experiment and be creative.

"You see his variety in songs like 'Imagine' and 'Double Fantasy' albums. He has done tremendous work in music and moved away from a stereotyped structure," said Vasundhara, who's sung popular Hindi numbers like "Shakalaka Baby" and "Salaam Namastey"

Born and brought up in Bangalore, Vasundhara has now moved to Mumbai to experiment with different facets of music.

"We are moving out and on a world tour. World Music band is a non-commercial organisation that is experimenting in world music. Many well-known musicians and songwriters are in this band. Those who want to experiment and infuse new thoughts in music can join this gang," she said.

Before entering the music industry, Vasundhara featured in the Tamil film "Citizen" with Ajith, the Malayalam movie "Ravana Prabhu" with Mohanlal and the Kannada flick "Lankesh Patrike" with Darshan.

She then worked in Hindi films like "Monsoon Wedding", "Film Star", "Pathar Bezuban" and "Kudiyon Ka Zamana". But she says she has always been more enthusiastic about singing songs than acting.

Vasundhara has sung for five Kannada films so far, including two for recent movie "Sacha".

"I had sung the two songs in 'Sacha' essentially for my mentor to show my love and gratitude for him. Parameshwara Hegde is the music director of this film. I learnt Hindustani music from him. I had to struggle and work hard like any other student to learn music under his guidance. He is strict, but he ensures that the students become effective singers."

But Vasundhara hopes to continue acting as well.

"I want to act again in a Kannada film. But the film should have a strong story line and I have to get the right banner and a good director," the actress said.